Advances in Language and Literary Studies ISSN: 2203-4714 www.alls.aiac.org.au Javanese Language Preservation in the Global Era: Determining Effective Teaching Methods for Elementary School Students Lusia Neti Harwati* Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Brawijaya University, Jalan Veteran Malang, East Java, Indonesia Corresponding Author: Lusia Neti Harwati, E-mail: [email protected] ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Article history Previous studies on Javanese language emphasized more on the use of this local language in Received: March 14, 2018 certain communities and ignored the importance of teaching and learning at an elementary Accepted: May 21, 2018 school level in order to preserve the language. The purpose of this study was to describe the Published: August 31, 2018 lives of the participants, collect and tell stories about their lives, and then write narratives of Volume: 9 Issue: 4 their experiences. The data were gathered through the collection of stories, reporting individual Advance access: July 2018 experiences, and discussing the meaning of those experiences for the participants by proposing a research question: what is the story of the teachers who tried to preserve Javanese language in the global era? A narrative research design, sociolinguistics, and social change as theories Conflicts of interest: None were applied in order to understand teachers’ point of view on globalization and the importance Funding: The research is financed by of preserving Javanese language. Purposeful sampling was used and two teachers were chosen DPP/SPP 2016, Faculty of Cultural as participants. The data gathered were then analyzed through three steps, namely code the Sciences, Brawijaya University data, description, and interpretation. There are two findings that can be summarized. Firstly, the interviewees perceived the challenges in teaching Javanese language as an opportunity to be more creative. Secondly, in the attempt to preserve and promote Javanese language and culture, Key words: they were fully supported by the school principal as well as the local government. It can be Sociolinguistics, concluded that knowledge of effective teaching strategies is vital in terms of providing an in- Social Change, depth understanding of how elementary schools can deal with the possible negative impacts of Society, globalization. Speech Community, Globalization, Javanese Language INTRODUCTION Indonesian’s capacity and potential for innovation. Initiat- In general, globalization refers to a process that encom- ing a research project on the critical importance of preserv- passes the causes, course, and consequences of transna- ing local languages and incorporating such languages into tional and transcultural integration of human and non-hu- curriculum for all students will be beneficial for Indonesia man activities with a number of consequences either good in terms of cultural sensitivity and awareness development. or bad related to educational, political, cultural aspects, The research problem that emerges is: What is the story of and so on (Al-Rodhan, 2006, as cited in Harwati, 2013). the teachers who tried to preserve Javanese language in the The emergence of western-dominated international cul- global era? More specifically, this study aims to discuss Ja- ture, the erosion of national identity, traditional values, vanese language preservation at SD Bernardus, Tritis, an el- languages, and cultures in Asian countries, therefore, can ementary school in Pakem, one of the regions in Yogyakar- be the examples of negative consequences. Indonesia then ta. This elementary school is located in a rural area, position needs to preserve and promote local cultures, for example Javanese language as a compulsory subject, and has homog- local languages. Such an attempt can be initiated through enous student population and most of them come from low- educational sector. However, it seems that the importance er social class backgrounds. With this study, the author wish of preserving local languages at an elementary school to be actively involved in efforts to develop Indonesian ed- level in Indonesia is a big unaddressed problem. Most ucation sector and be able to contribute to the betterment of research regarding language and education focused more basic education in Indonesia, especially in rural areas, such on the popularity of English among young generation, es- as Tritis, which has been chosen as a location for conduct- pecially those coming from upper-middle social classes. ing research. The author also believes that this study could As this study is focused on local language preservation be used as an essential step to enhance further professional at an elementary school level, its result will then improve interaction, partnerships, and collaborative projects. Published by Australian International Academic Centre PTY.LTD. Copyright (c) the author(s). This is an open access article under CC BY license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) http://dx.doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.9n.4p.37 38 ALLS 9(4):37-42 LITERATURE REVIEW increase their own opportunities to use traditional vocabu- lary in their conversation. Here, sociolinguistics is also used Theory: Sociolinguistics and Social Change as a theory. More recently, Suherman (2015), focused on Holmes (2001) states that sociolinguistics as a branch of both identifying and describing the form of variations in language linguistics and sociology can be defined as the study of the use in Gerem village communities. He explained the viabil- relation between language and society. Jendra (2007) further ity of Serang Java language and efforts in maintaining the explains that in sociolinguistics, society (community) is seen language. He then concluded that Serang Java language still as a source of linguistics repertoire. Linguistics repertoire it- survives. It is used as a means of communication, through self can be defined as a group of languages, for example first cultural activities and local wisdom. This study is framed language, regional or local language, and languages learned within an ethnographic perspective and theory of motivation in schools mastered by the same speaker. The linguistics rep- is applied to answer the research question. In addition, Nu- ertoire of one speaker is determined by his or her passive rani (2015) analyzed the extent to which Javanese language and active knowledge of the language varieties within his or matters for the Javanese people’s identity in Yogyakarta and her speech community. However, certain communities are how the language planning and policy mechanism works to unaware of the importance of preserving, protecting, and foster Javanese language. It can be concluded therefore that promoting local languages. Preventing local languages from the previous studies, which have emphasized more on the becoming unknown is, therefore, essential. use of Javanese language in certain communities ignored the Drawing from the above explanation, it can be argued importance of teaching and learning at an elementary school that preserving Javanese language at an elementary school level in order to preserve Javanese language. Indeed, pre- level has a correlation with society as a source of linguistics serving and introducing linguistic diversity and cultural plu- repertoire. ralism to pupils, is vital. “Society consists of individuals and they are its only representatives, just as individuals exist only within a society. Individual and social existence are themselves METHOD manifest simultaneously, develop at the same time, and Narrative Research Design change interdependently” (Hauser, 1982, p. 40). This statement implies that society and individuals are Ehrlich, Flexner, Carruth, and Hawkins (1980, p. 442, as inseparable, without society there can be no individual. Fur- cited in Creswell, 2005, p. 474) explain, “the term narra- thermore, individuals within society have agreements on tive comes from the verb to narrate or to tell (as a story) what need to be changed or preserved, including language in detail”. In narrative research designs, researchers have to (verbal and nonverbal), knowledge, beliefs, and also val- describe individual experiences and then write those expe- ues. In brief, there is a significant alteration related to social riences in detail. Narrative research design with purposeful structure and cultural patterns through time. This is what sampling was chosen to comprehend teachers’ point of view we called social change (Leicht, 2013, n.p.). Leicht further on globalization and the importance of preserving Javanese explains, “social structure refers to persistent networks of language. The author has described the lives of two teachers social relationships where interaction between people or from SD Bernardus, Tritis, collected and told stories about groups has become routine and repetitive. Culture refers to their lives, and written narratives of their experiences. The shared ways of living and thinking.” data were gathered through the collection of stories, report- Based on the explanation about social change, it can be ing individual experiences, and discussing the meaning of concluded that local languages (such as Javanese language), those experiences for the teachers. The hypothesis was if Ja- as one of the most important elements of culture, will be pre- vanese language continues to be taught during elementary served, promoted or even neglected, depends on the agree- school level as a compulsory subject then students would ment among individuals within society. learn